Welsh Journals

'And where shall she find a doctor?': incidents in the history of medicine in Gower during the nineteenth century T. G. Davies 'Doctor indeed,' grumbled father 'and where shall she find a doctor as shall know as much as old Betty Perkins of Penclawdd? I do believe that a word from she and a look from her one eye shall do more to cure someone than all the doctors as was ever born, or all the oils as was ever mixed Geographical isolation is a powerful factor in determining the nature of the medical services provided in any area. When combined with poverty and the difficulty of attracting skilled medical aid, the extent of the deprivation experienced is inevitably exaggerated. This study attempts to describe the situation as it affected the Gower peninsula. The examples cited, although typical of the locality, were probably representative of those to be found in any comparable district. Disease has undoubtedly played an important part in shaping the lives of human beings from time immemorial. It is, therefore, surprising that little information has survived from earlier ages concerning its appearance and the attempts made to combat it. In this context, the Gower peninsula is no exception; nineteenth-century references to medical matters there are far from plentiful, and earlier ones are only infrequently found. The only example concerning psychiatric illness comes from a commission in lunacy (de lunatico inquirendo) in the case of a woman, E.B., ofLlanrhidian, that was held in the year 1696. Such inquiries were set up when those who suffered from severe mental disorder were thought to be unable to manage their estates because of the severity of their symptoms. This commission was one of only two held in Glamorgan (and six throughout Wales) between 1627 and 1700. The actual 'inquisition' was held at the